It has been about 3 months since I started the Hawk. I was going to turn it around this weekend and put it back in the shop o it would be easier to get to the rusty metal in the trunk floor.

I hooked the battery back up and tried to start it without success. The battery was pretty week so I went to get the charger. When I came back I noticed gas was leaking out of the carb around the shafts. After a little searching, I also discovered that the coil was extremely hot.

As I continued to search for the problem, I discovered that the solenoid had developed an internal short. The ignition (I) terminal on the coil was shorted directly to the battery terminal. This was constantly sending power to the coil causing it to overheat. The power was also feeding backwards through the coil resistor and energizing the electric fuel pump.

I assume the floats / needle valve in the carb was sticky or stuck since the car had set so long. Thus allowing the running fuel pump to flood the carb.

I had never seen this type solenoid failure before and was wondering if anyone else had.

Wayne

StudeRich

09-05-2012, 09:41 PM

Wayne; it's just Murphy's Law, anything that CAN happen, will happen!
These unusual problems do happen sometimes and you just have to deal with them, yes it is uncommon. It is probably more common for them to fail to open and fail to work.

In your case what I would be worried most about is Oil dilution, you may have a good amount of fuel in the Oil Pan, smell the dipstick and check for overfill. If any hint of Gas is present, drain the Oil and Change the Filter.

Also the Points, if you have them are toast.

wdills

09-05-2012, 09:56 PM

I forgot to mention that I did end up with fuel in the oil. It has an electronic ignition from Dave T-bow. I am hoping that it wasn't damaged.

Once I found the fuel in the oil, I just stopped until I can get the oil changed.